Throughout India and Nepal – the part of the world in which I find myself – one is often greeted by strangers with a cheery namaste. There was one occasion, trekking high in the mountains, when I was greeted thus by a young woman. She could not raise her hands for they were laden with an infant, not yet of an age for walking, much less talking. Yet at the sound of namaste, he raised his tiny hands and brought them together in front of his face. Needless to say, I responded with a heartfelt namaste. 

The meaning of namaste has changed for me over the years and it is of this I wish to write. My original understanding (following John Veltheim) was along the lines of “I honour that in you which is love and light and peace, and know that when you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, we are one.” 

It might be said that love and light and peace are at the spiritual core of our being. It might also be said that such essence is the level at which we are truly not separated. Yet as human beings, there is more to us than love and light and peace: there is all the messy stuff of individuality which is for ever getting us into trouble. Yet to honour someone is to honour the completeness of their being – not just that golden heart but also the ragged uniqueness which surrounds it. To honour someone thus is to honour both the unmanifest and the manifest, to honour non-duality and diversity.

As for knowing that we are one, somewhere along the way that understanding has become deeply rooted. Or perhaps it has been seen as the bedrock of all understanding. For sure, it is not always in the forefront of the mind but even in the most bitter of moments it is still there, somewhere in the background. So, in a sense it is always known, even if it is more keenly felt when one is in that timeless space of love and light and peace.

So now, for me, namaste has come to mean something more like “I honour you and know that we are one.” This understanding came first in the dedications of reiki initiations but as with all things in reiki, it has gradually infused itself into the rest of my life.

(June 2005)